1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to an apparatus for controlling cool air to concentrically cool a region in the refrigerator which is weakly cooled or stores a new load.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a-refrigerator is used for freezing foods or keeping the same in cold storage.
The refrigerator is an apparatus which deprives heat from the surroundings for cooling the same through a refrigerating cycle composed of air compressing, air condensing and evaporating steps in order to freeze or refrigerate foods which tend to rot in warm areas and fishes required for keeping freshness.
Due to its convenience that the refrigerator can store or store foods, fishes, fruits, drinks and the like as well as freeze the same into edible ices at any time based upon the above principle, the refrigerator becomes an essential electric instrument in the modem society.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the structure of a typical refrigerator. Referring to FIG. 1, the refrigerator is divided into a freezing chamber 24 and a refrigerating chamber 26 about a compartment wall 18 of a body 14. At least one door (not shown) is mounted to the front in order to separate the freezing and refrigerating chambers 24 and 26 from the external air.
In the meantime, the refrigerator comprises instruments for the refrigerating cycle which perform the compressing, condensing and evaporating steps to generate cool air necessary for cooling the freezing and refrigerating chambers 24 and 26. Further, the refrigerator is provided at an upper rear region thereof with a blowing chamber 10 which has an air blowing fan 12 for forcibly blowing the cool air generated in the refrigerating cycle into the freezing and refrigerating chambers 24 and 26.
Further, a plurality of cool air forward-discharge ports 20a for discharging the cool air forward are formed in certain positions of the compartment wall 18 between the freezing and refrigerating chambers 24 and 26 which mutually communicate with the blowing chamber 10.
Further, a cool air suction port 22 may be provided in a certain position for sucking in the surrounding air.
In the refrigerator constituted as above, a compressor compresses a gaseous coolant low with temperature and pressure into a state high with temperature and pressure. The compressed gaseous coolant high with temperature and pressure is frozen and condensed into a liquid state high with pressure while passing through a condenser. The liquid coolant high with pressure is lowered with temperature and pressure while passing through a capillary tube (not shown). Then, in an evaporator, the liquid coolant is transformed into a gaseous state low with temperature and pressure while depriving heat from the surroundings to cool the air in the surroundings. In sequence, the air cooled through the evaporator is circulated through the freezing chamber 24 and then the refrigerating chamber 26 due to the operation of the blowing fan 12 so as to lower the internal temperature of the freezing and refrigerating chambers.
As described above, the refrigerator is provided with a cool air distributing system for uniformly distributing the cool air generated around the evaporator to storage spaces of the freezing and refrigerating chambers. Of course, the cool air distributing system is variously configured according to the kind of the refrigerator.
Describing the cool air distributing system in reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the refrigerating chamber 26 is provided in the upper end with a damper 20 which communicates with the blowing chamber 10.
On the side of the damper 20 are provided the cool air forward-discharge ports 20a and cool air downward-discharge ports 20b for discharging the cool air downward.
Therefore, in the cool air distributing system configured as above, the cool air generated around the evaporator and transferred into the blowing chamber 10 is distributed to the freezing chamber 24 and the damper 20 with the blowing fan 12 provided in the blowing chamber 10.
In this case, the cool air introduced into the freezing chamber 24 circulates through the inside of the freezing chamber before moving into the evaporator again via the cool air suction port 22 at the bottom of the freezing chamber. Then, the cool air introduced into the damper 20 is discharged into the refrigerating chamber 26 via the cool air forward-discharge ports 20a at the side.
The cool air discharged into an upper region of the refrigerating chamber via the cool air forward-discharge ports 20a is distributed to storage spaces defined by storage shelves 16 while flowing downward via spaces between a door 15 and the storage shelves 16. Then, the cool air is finally introduced into the cool air suction port 22 connected to the evaporator.
However, according to the related art as set forth above, the cool air discharged from the upper damper is not properly transferred into middle and lower regions of the refrigerating chamber far from the damper so that a refrigerating operation is not effectively carried out thereby resulting in a problem that the refrigerating chamber has a non-uniform temperature distribution.
Since the cool air is insufficiently transferred around the door 14 apart from the upper damper, foods stored in a door basket are not properly cooled as a problem.
In the meantime, the conventional refrigerator configured as above discharges or blocks the cool air into/from the refrigerating chamber 26 by detecting the weight of the shelves 16 in the refrigerating chamber 26 stored with new load (e.g. food) or the weight of the refrigerating chamber 26 itself. Alternatively, the refrigerator discharges or blocks the cool air into/from the entire refrigerating chamber 26 according to its temperature fluctuation by detecting and judging the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 26 itself with a temperature sensor (not shown) mounted on a specific region of the refrigerating chamber 26.
However, according to this cool air controlling method, when the surrounding temperature and weight of the refrigerating chamber are elevated due to the new load as above, the cool air is discharged into the entire refrigerating chamber for a certain time period to lower the elevated surrounding temperature of the entire refrigerator thereby disadvantageously enlarging the amount of power consumption of the refrigerator.
Further, the controlling method of cooling the entire refrigerating chamber as above cools the newly stored load while lowering the temperature of the entire refrigerating chamber,
thereby degrading the cooling speed of the new load and the cooling ability of the refrigerator with the cool air by a large amount as drawbacks.
Accordingly the present invention has been made to solve the above problems of the related art and it is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for controlling cool air in a refrigerator.
It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus for concentrically cooling a region which stores a new load.
According to a preferred aspect of the invention to obtain the above objects, it is provided an apparatus for discharging cool air comprising: the first cool air duct provided along a compartment wall of a refrigerator with a certain length for allowing the cool air introduced from a blowing chamber to flow therethrough; the second cool air duct having a variable length provided downward from a front end of the first cool air duct; length adjusting means connected to the second cool air duct for adjusting the length of the second cool air duct; and rotation adjusting means attached to a lower end of the second cool air duct for carrying out rotation and injecting the cool air.
The apparatus of the invention may further comprise temperature-detecting means provided in the rotation adjusting means for detecting surrounding temperature.
In the apparatus of the invention, the second cool air duct is preferably shaped as a bellows.
In the apparatus of the invention, the length adjusting means may comprise: moving means for vertically moving the second cool air duct; and a winch motor provided in a front end of the second cool air duct for winding up the moving means, wherein the moving means may be a cable or rope, and the winch motor may be connected to a drum for winding or unwinding the moving means via a shaft.
In the apparatus of the invention, the rotation adjusting means may comprise: a cool air injection nozzle for injecting the cool air; and driving means having a rotor and a stator for rotating the cool air injection nozzle, wherein the rotor is preferably provided on the side of the cool air injection nozzle.
According to another preferred aspect of the invention to obtain the above objects, it is provided an apparatus for controlling cool air in a refrigerator comprising: a blowing chamber having a blowing fan for compressing the cool air; a damper penetrating a compartment wall and leading for a certain length to introduce the cool air from the blowing chamber; and cool air discharging means which moves from the front of a refrigerating chamber to the position of a load to discharge the introduced cool air.
According to further another preferred aspect of the invention to obtain the above objects, it is provided a system for controlling cool air in a refrigerator comprising: varying means for operating in all directions according to opening/closing of a refrigerator door; detecting means for detecting surrounding temperature according to the operation of the varying means; controlling means for judging whether the detected surrounding temperature reaches a certain degree or higher to control injection of the cool air; and cool air discharging means for injecting the cool air in the front of a refrigerating chamber if the detected surrounding temperature reaches the certain degree or higher.
In the system of the invention, wherein the varying means may comprise: a cool air duct having a vertically variable length; length adjusting means connected to the cool air duct for adjusting the length of the cool air duct; and rotation adjusting means attached to a lower end of the cool air duct for carrying out rotation and injecting the cool air.
The system of the invention may further comprise an auxiliary duct provided along a wall on the side of a damper of a refrigerator chamber and communicating with the cool air duct.
According to still another preferred aspect of the invention to obtain the above objects, it is provided a method of controlling cool air in a refrigerator, the method comprising the following steps of: operating varying means in all directions according to opening/closing of a refrigerator door; if the varying means are operated in all directions, detecting surrounding temperature to judge whether the surrounding temperature reaches a predetermined degree or higher; and if the surrounding temperature reaches the predetermined degree, injecting the cool air.
In the method of the invention, the step of operating varying means may comprise the steps of: vertically moving a cool air duct; and rotating a cool air injection nozzle attached to the cool air duct, wherein the cool air duct may be moved by using a winch motor, and the cool air injection nozzle may be rotated by using driving means.
In the method of the invention, the driving means may have a rotor and a stator.
In the method of the invention, the cool air can be injected based upon the detected surrounding temperature while the-varying means is operated if the refrigerator door is not opened/closed for a certain time.